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Tuesday, 3 January 2017

The Burden Of Empire

In parts of
the media there is talk that Britain must admit to its errors and arrogance and
what happened during the period of The Empire. We should be contrite and above
all fork out huge sums to pay off the claimants.

Hang on a bit
squire, as we of the humbler sort might say when doffing the forelock (is that
quite right?) to our betters. By the time I
was eligible to vote most of that Empire was history and the rest had more or
less packed their bags and waiting for the legislation to complete.

My young ones
are now middle aged and had nothing to do with any of the Empire and by the
time they voted only a few ancients, largely old stranded Tories, were
bemoaning that which was long lost. More to the point, it was the end of the
1920's before my parents could vote by which time the Empire was in place.

Of my four grandparents,
three did not vote before 1918 and one never at all. None of my
great-grandparents had the vote. In the generation before only one of 16 did,
being eligible in one of the few constituencies with a wider franchise. Going
back further, given the evidence the right to vote would have been held by very
few at any time. Just how responsible were those that did not?

This is not a
rare example; it is a common one. When it came to politics, the franchise and
who made and carried out the decisions the great majority of the population
were not asked and did not take part in making the decisions. In some parts of
Britain and Ireland the Empire did not have much appeal.

Another
question is who are the Brit's now? What about all those political migrants of
the 1930's, fleeing from Hitler or Stalin? It might be argued that they
benefitted from Empire in arriving in a Britain that gave them homes and life,
but can they be blamed and should they have to pay?

When there is
talk about this Empire we need to be aware that many of the present population
come from places where it is said we should be compensating the populations? So
does this mean that people who are defined as old Brit's pay, on whatever
basis, but they do not although they have had the same alleged benefits?

I wish these
learned academics and such like who point to the bad side of matters would
consider the costs of Empire borne also by the ordinary Brit's. For example,
how many of the poor labourers force marched into the military died of disease
alone? Some of the figures are horrific.

The 4th Light
Dragoons, later Hussars, lost close to 800 men in twenty years in India from
disease. Why could they not have been found useful work at home? Our navy may
have been the biggest and the best, but it had to be paid for and maintained.
For a long time press ganging, flogging and bad food were the rule.

To assume that
the Empire paid for it is wishful thinking. The real costs were vast and the
distortion created in the UK investment and labour markets great. These
distortions compromised the economy not only after World War Two but after
World War One.

The Spithead
reviews of our naval might were a wonderful sight and a splendid media
presentation. We might have been better off putting most of the money into
ensuring our trading and merchant marine capability matched that of America.

There is
little thinking about the opportunity cost of Empire. All the effort and
resources put into meant they were not available for other economic purposes. Given
that the apparent profit and benefit favoured some areas, notably London, we
assume "trickle down" when as far as many places were concerned it
was more "trickle up" given the economic displacements that occurred.

In short we
have a population at present very many of whom have little or nothing to thank
The Empire for and for those
largely British when we look back at our
family histories see enough poverty etc. to wonder at who did benefit and who
did not.

So why should
any of those who descend from those who bore the "White Man's Burden"
and paid the real price now be the ones to cough up to see the money go to
those descended from the high castes of the Empire?

The picture
above is Wapping at the height of Empire. The area is now something of a global
media centre many of whose upper class commentators, descended from old elites,
they being largely tax avoiders want to raise taxes for the ordinary Brit's.

These will buy off those wanting our money many of whom have their own interesting
arrangements with the public funds of their own nations. I wonder just where
the money might finish up.